TY - JOUR
T1 - Sponge-like molecular cage for purification of fullerenes
AU - García-Simón, Cristina
AU - Garcia-Borràs, Marc
AU - Gómez, Laura
AU - Parella, Teodor
AU - Osuna, Sílvia
AU - Juanhuix, Jordi
AU - Imaz, Inhar
AU - Maspoch, Daniel
AU - Costas, Miquel
AU - Ribas, Xavi
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Since fullerenes are available in macroscopic quantities from fullerene soot, large efforts have been geared toward designing efficient strategies to obtain highly pure fullerenes, which can be subsequently applied in multiple research fields. Here we present a supramolecular nanocage synthesized by metal-directed self-assembly, which encapsulates fullerenes of different sizes. Direct experimental evidence is provided for the 1:1 encapsulation of C 60, C 70, C 76, C 78 and C 84, and solid state structures for the host-guest adducts with C 60 and C 70 have been obtained using X-ray synchrotron radiation. Furthermore, we design a washing-based strategy to exclusively extract pure C 60 from a solid sample of cage charged with a mixture of fullerenes. These results showcase an attractive methodology to selectively extract C 60 from fullerene mixtures, providing a platform to design tuned cages for selective extraction of higher fullerenes. The solid-phase fullerene encapsulation and liberation represent a twist in host-guest chemistry for molecular nanocage structures.
AB - © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Since fullerenes are available in macroscopic quantities from fullerene soot, large efforts have been geared toward designing efficient strategies to obtain highly pure fullerenes, which can be subsequently applied in multiple research fields. Here we present a supramolecular nanocage synthesized by metal-directed self-assembly, which encapsulates fullerenes of different sizes. Direct experimental evidence is provided for the 1:1 encapsulation of C 60, C 70, C 76, C 78 and C 84, and solid state structures for the host-guest adducts with C 60 and C 70 have been obtained using X-ray synchrotron radiation. Furthermore, we design a washing-based strategy to exclusively extract pure C 60 from a solid sample of cage charged with a mixture of fullerenes. These results showcase an attractive methodology to selectively extract C 60 from fullerene mixtures, providing a platform to design tuned cages for selective extraction of higher fullerenes. The solid-phase fullerene encapsulation and liberation represent a twist in host-guest chemistry for molecular nanocage structures.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6557
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6557
M3 - Article
VL - 5
M1 - 5557
ER -